Broken, With A Change Of Heart
by MusoukaS
Summary: Experiences influences a person. They leave their mark on your soul. But when there have been too many negative, traumatic events, your soul becomes badly damaged and you'll become a broken man, unable to function properly, like a normal being... and Phil Coulson is currently that badly damaged, broken man. What can Skye (and the team) do to mend his broken soul?


My very first Skoulson fic!

I felt so much pressure to get the characters right. I'm not sure if I got them down (let me know, I'd love to hear your thoughts), but let's take you guys onto a journey! I'm not trying to make it too dark. I hope.

Anyways...!

I was inspired by a prompt, which I can't tell you yet because it'll spoil the whole thing for the series. Yes, this will be a series. There will be more than one chapter and there will also be a lot more fun, with mainly these two.

I'd love to hear your feedback. It would mean a lot. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

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**Chapter one: Hiding**

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„I _can't_ believe you're hiding in here, in your rusty, old bunker, safely protected from the environment outside, from the people who love and adore you, and God forbid you should ever deal with either one of us, let alone have a conversation", Skye says mockingly, bitterly, when she opens the door. And she doesn't wait at the door either. She grants herself entrance.

Before her is a man much more her superior, much more of age, and truth be told, he looks worn down, fatigued. He heaves a heavy sigh, unable (more unwilling) to deal with this right now, but nonetheless, he pulls through, placing the papers in front of him, and gives her that what she so desperately wants and seeks. For her. He looks at her, eyes lock, and he intertwines his fingers before him on the desk, undergoing the untamed wrath and anger so clearly shown in her eyes as he directs his full attention at her.

„Skye…", he begins and he can just _see _her expression, her mouth about to open and protest, telling him one thing: she's not going to buy it if he doesn't bring something good to the table, „I'm not hiding. I'm just busy. I'm a busy man. Besides, my office is _not _rusty, nor old, nor a bunker"

What a poor excuse, he tells himself. He wouldn't buy it either. He would poke through it in mere seconds.

„_That's _your defense?", she asks him, scoffing, and she folds her arms before her chest, nodding her head in slight disapproval, tongue scraping her palate.

Well, at least he tried.

It doesn't excuse her for being a real pain in the butt right now, typical Skye when she has to get her way. Often, they have the same goal in mind, so they'll cooperate. But today, they really don't. It might have something to do with him being her current goal, her current little project, her hopeless little charity, her selfless act of the week, and how she wants him to have fun, to relax, to unwind, and spend some quality time with the team.

He's just not feeling up to it.

He hasn't been for days.

And she has been tirelessly bothering him since the beginning (of those days), so no wonder her efforts are backfiring, why he even feels more reluctant than before.

„You're supposed to be downstairs, having dinner with the rest of us"

She sounds offended but formal, however, her tone of voice increased in volume. She's still using her indoor voice, though. So, that's good.

„It's 5:30 in the morning. Don't you mean breakfast, even though it's a little early?"

„Whatever", she rolls her eyes at him, and slowly approaches the desk, all the meanwhile he watches her closely, „Don't change the subject, AC"

„I'm not changing the subject", he quickly snipes back.

„Now you're doing it again. Stop it"

„I'm not", he almost raises his hands in defense, along with his tone of voice.

„You're a bad liar", she says when she -not so gracefully- plops down into one of the chairs across him. He simply cocks his head at her, blue eyes curiously inquiring her slowly-softening brown pools, clearly wondering what her game is.

After a couple minutes of silence, she finally speaks up„ I'm not going to go away unless you come with me. To have dinner-"

„Breakfast", he resentfully corrects.

„Whatever"

A smug grin starts to appear, leisurely tugging at the corners of his lips. She's growing impatient. He's starting to get under her skin. It won't be long before she leaves him alone. Just a little more… just a small nudge. She brought this upon herself. He didn't ask for her meddlesome interference. He doesn't need it. He just needs his own solitude right now.

„I'm not hungry", he says, straightening himself in his chair and closing the files on his desk. The curious little brat had been secretly peeking just now.

„Do you really want me to use the Night-Night gun on you, and have Jemma and May haul your ass downstairs? We'll tie you up if we have to. Don't make me do it, though. I'd hate to do it, but I will if I have to".

Coulson frowns and attempts, although in vain, to hide the fine dash of curiosity and surprise in his voice, „Simmons? Why not Fitz?"

„I figured she's the muscular one of the two", she casually shrugs as though she's made up her mind about this ages ago.

A dubious grin from ear to ear appears on his features. It's more of a sad smile, actually.

„Yeah, you're right about that"

He stares at nothing in particular for a few minutes, being unaware of the pair of eyes keeping an eye on him. They spend it in complete, utter silence together. And it's okay. It feels okay. Just okay. It's not bad, it's not awkward. It's just there. Until Skye decides to break it.

„I know what you're doing", her voice is soft, sweet and…even _hopeful_. She has calmed down.

„Oh, and what am I doing, miss Poots?"

„Hey! I told you that in private and in great confidence! Don't use it against me", she grins before pouting playfully, „What kind of friend are you?"

„I'm your boss, Skye"

„You're not my friend?"

And for a moment, he has succeeded. He has pushed and poked through her barrier, her shield. And how? By being an distant asshole. How pathetic. He's not proud of it. Her playful demeanor falls to the ground, fast. To see the disappointment in her eyes, to see the hope leaving..

Unbearable.

He sighs, looks away for a couple of seconds before staring back into her eyes, her lovely, sympathetic brown eyes, saying the following with the utmost care, meaning and truth, „And your friend".

She gives him one of her most rare, but warm smiles before hastily making her way across the desk and placing her arms around his neck, pulling him close enough so that she can embrace him with all her might. In the beginning, in the very first couple of seconds when she's reaching out for him, he firmly squints his eyes, allowing it, whatever this is, to waltz all over him, to which she assumes he'll simply stand there, passively, aversely, but to her surprise, he places his own hands on her lower back, holding her close to him.

„This is really uncomfortable", he manages to mumble between chuckles after a couple of seconds, gesturing at the awkwardly hugging with a piece of furniture in between, „but thank you".

„Well, AC, I'm not letting go until you say yes to breakfast", she whispers in his ear, tightening her grip around his neck.

„Skye…", and she can just _hear _the delight and smugness in his voice, she doesn't need to see his face for this. His own grip on her tightens, and he leans in to whisper in her ear as well, it's terrifying as hell, „I'm a highly trained and skilled operations S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Before that, I've had military training. I've mastered many material arts, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu. _What makes you think you can take me on?"_

And he knows at very exact moment when her embrace loosens that he has her. He won this mischievous, jokey, playful game of hers. By merely teasing her back.

„I guess that's it, huh?", she sighs, not even attempting to hide the evident disappointment and sadness when she lets go off him. He furies his brow, uncertain what's taking place right now „Skye, what's going on?".

„I mean, if you're so eager to avoid the only other living beings on this plane, the only other people in this world who can relate to you, the only ones who care about you, then so be it. I'm really done with trying to lure you into these fun, social events you so visibly despise".

And with the speed of lighting, or so it seems, she leaves his office, leaving him all alone, perplexed, baffled and confused, and most importantly: surrendered to his solitude.


End file.
